štúdia:

James´s contribution to the crystallization of interactionist sociology. The article is devoted to evaluation of the contribution of William James as one of the founders of pragmatism to the origin of interactionist sociology. Along with the general recognition of special role of James among sociologists, we sometimes encounter a certain underestimation of his influence. The neglect of relevant attention to his legacy was partly conditioned by the overall silence concerning the founders of interactionism that dominated over American sociology thanks Parsons. But in fact it was Jamesian postulate of radical empiricism that was so important for the formation of empirical orientation in early American sociology. A Jamesian emphasis on the empirical world as the point of departure and the point of return became the starting point for the interactionism in its research as well as in its social politics, which was based on the principle of meliorism, which was the cornerstone of Jamesian pragmatism. Pragmatism also declared the conception of active human being, which became the fundamental principle of early interactionists (W. I. Thomas, R. Park. G. H. Mead). This idea followed from Jamesian conception of the stream of consciousness. In The Principles of Psychology James has developed an original theory of “multiple Self”, which was the source of the Coolean and the Meadean conception of Self. His analysis of the elements of Self (Me and I) prepared the development of the reference group theory and the theory of role sets. James abandoned the position of dogmatic monism and tends toward pluralism. His persistent attempt to relativise the Self, the consciousness, the truth, led him to the discovery of a world that is very similar to our “risk-filled”, uncertain and fallible post-modern world. The fruitfulness of James´s legacy is evident today, when his idea of the “multiple Self” is successfully applied to building a theory of identity of post-modern man.

A General Model of Natural Resource Conflicts: the Case of International Freshwater Disputes. This article begins by summarizing social scientific perspectives on the connection between natural resources and conflicts. From these theoretical perspectives, a number of key concepts are identified and defined. These key concepts are then integrated into a general model which speculates on the connections between them and conflicts over natural resources. Finally, an analysis of cases of international freshwater disputes and more specifically the dispute between Slovakia and Hungary over the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam on the Danube River is used to assess the utility of the general model of natural resource conflict.

Vietnamese Community in Slovakia. This paper analyses migration trajectories and cohabitation patterns of Vietnamese population in Slovakia. It starts with brief introduction on origin of Vietnamese in Slovakia and distinguishes two different waves of migrants. After analysis of the 2001 Census data it turns to authors’ own survey on Vietnamese traders in Slovakia. The concluding part of the paper explores likely future of Vietnamese in Slovakia after its accession to the EU.

Psychometrics Properties of the Questionnaire Surveys: Validity, Reliability and Feasibility. All questionnaires, regardless of what they measure, must demonstrate good performance with regard to psychometric properties. Psychometrics is a branch of survey research that has developed methods how to quantify errors in measurement because no matter how well is the questionnaire prepared, observed data bears except of desired true data also measurement errors. You should distinguish notion psychometrics from psychometrics used in sociological practice. There is no Slovak equivalent for psychometrics (as a branch of survey research) at the moment, although term psychometrics is common abroad and comprehended correctly. But we can also say we are introducing methodological requirements for data collected through the questionnaire surveys that should be satisfied prior to any statistical manipulation. Rehak (1998b) noticed the quality of data determinate the quality of results. In general, questionnaires collecting research data should satisfy properties of validity, reliability and feasibility. Criteria and standards in psychometrics are not defined as strict rules, but rather as ranges within you would expect certain indicators to fall if the questionnaire is operating correctly. Also the strict limit showing which and how many tests must be used to proof the quality of questionnaire is missing. According to the most of reviewed literature authors use the same set of tests that vary only in number of tests according to which psychometrics areas were tested. Methodology, how to test your quality of data collected through the questionnaire survey, is demonstrated on empirical Slovak data achieved through the Multi-country Survey Study (MCSS) questionnaire.